France: an exceptional artistic commission of 30 million euros
The columns of Buren, in the courtyard of the Ministry of Culture, May 26, 2018 © AFP
Text by: Isabelle Chenu Follow
4 min
In France, Emmanuel Macron announced Monday, November 8 the list of 264 artistic projects that will benefit from 30 million euros.
The result of an exceptional public commission called "New Worlds" and a competition launched last spring in all disciplines: visual arts, music, live performance, writing, design or applied arts ... This in order to support a sector that has suffered as a result of the health crisis.
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What better way to get artists out of the doldrums into which the health crisis has plunged them than to invite them to create imaginary worlds?
It was the object of this competition, thought out at the heart of the first containment and launched last spring.
Some 3,200 candidates applied.
A figure "
wonderfully frightening
", comments Bernard Blistène, former boss of the National Museum of Modern Art in Beaubourg and president of the jury.
Thirty million euros are on the table, released by the Élysée, a strong symbol of the State's commitment to Culture.
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Many projects are carried by collectives, 430 artists in total are associated with them.
The visual arts are represented at around 29% while 26% of the projects are at the crossroads of several disciplines.
Performing arts and music are represented at 22%, design and applied arts at 14% and writing at 9%, according to the Élysée.
Create and dream despite the crisis
Projects often make you dream.
There is a sound recording in a prehistoric cave restored in the form of operas, radio fiction promising to tell the story of the first rhinoceros to arrive in Marseille in the 16th century, an artistic saltwater garden that evokes the original sea.
Or:
outdoor “
contemplation furniture
” in Brittany, made of lime, straw and buckwheat built in front of a mythical cairn, the creation of reception furniture in recycled plastic with the waste that invades the funds sailors, "
work-ship
" designed from an assembly of old sails, to navigate from port to port to host cultural events around ecology, recording of the sounds of the earth on Reunion Island or a piano concert related to the Apocalypse tapestry in Angers.
Many projects are inspired by ecology, territories left behind or are intended for establishments welcoming the elderly.
60% of the selected artists are under 40 years old.
They will benefit from a research grant of an amount varying from 3,000 to 10,000 euros and will have three months to refine their project before moving on to the production phase.
The creation of a website should allow the public to follow the progress of the projects.
An exceptional public commission
Some of these future creations will “
resonate
” with heritage sites managed by the Center des monuments nationaux or the Conservatoire du littoral. One of the original ideas was to build new mythologies for the future. Many artists ask themselves: “
What have we done with our world and what can we hope to do with it? This period of pandemic has upset, and still upsets our benchmarks. What does this generate as new writings, as new artistic forms?
"
"
When, in 30
or 40 years, we will look back to find out what artistic creation was saying about the state of France at that time, we will have these achievements which will mark the history of art
", wants believe the entourage of the President of the Republic.
The scale of this public order is exceptional, even if this type of measure has existed in France for a long time.
The State invests in each year, approximately 3 million euros in artistic commissions, in addition to the "
1% artistic
", which requires since 1951 to devote this percentage of the cost of the work of public buildings (construction, rehabilitation or extension) on ordering or acquiring works by living artists.
In December 2019, the Ministry of Culture launched a new type of order, not relating to permanent works intended for a specific location, but to “
temporary and reactivable works
”, loaned to local authorities of less than 50 000 inhabitants who wish to benefit their territory from one of these works for a given time, which can range from two to five years.
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